La médiation linguistique

1. a)21 June, the longest day of the year. Trois lieux au choix parmi : streets, courtyards, hospitals, railway stations (0,25 pt par élément, 1 pt). (1)
2. b)Because the phrase made the host family imagine a paying festival in a field, with one stage and a ticket. La Fête de la Musique is free, amateur and takes place everywhere at once, so the English words carried the wrong picture. (1)
3. c)They find it strange that the state organises it: the event was launched by a Minister of Culture in 1982 and the town hall still provides electricity and barriers. It suggests that public authorities play a larger role in cultural life in France than in Britain. (1)
4. d)The narrator did not look for English words for French ones, because none existed. Instead of translating, he described the reality itself so that his listeners could picture it. (1)

Repère — On ne restitue pas un texte en recopiant ses mots : on répond avec ses propres phrases, en reliant les informations relevées.

1. a)She said (that) she was looking for a summer job in Bristol. (present continuous → past continuous, I → she) (1)
2. b)The headteacher announced (that) they would publish the results the following week. (will → would ; next week → the following week / the week after) (1)
3. c)He asked me if / whether I had ever explained the bac to an English friend. (question fermée → if/whether ; present perfect → past perfect ; ordre sujet + verbe) (1)
4. d)The teacher told us not to look up every word in the dictionary. (ordre négatif → told somebody not to + base verbale) (1)

Erreur fréquente — Dans une question rapportée, l'auxiliaire did / does disparaît et l'ordre redevient sujet + verbe.

1. a)This article, published in a regional daily, deals with the closing of small village schools. (accepter : taken from a regional newspaper ; is about the closure of…) (1)
2. b)The author points out that one school in ten has shut down since 2010. (accepter : stresses / underlines ; one in ten schools has closed) (1)
3. c)He may have agreed to take part, but he attended only one meeting. (pièges : eventually ≠ éventuellement ; to assist ≠ assister à) (1)
4. d)Currently, parents drive their children up to twenty kilometres every morning. (piège : actually ≠ actuellement) (1)

Le point clé — Une restitution juste commence par la nature et la source du document avant d'en donner le contenu.

1. a)The baccalauréat is the national exam French students sit at the end of secondary school, at eighteen. It is roughly the equivalent of A-levels, except that every subject is examined, not just three or four. (1)
2. b)La Sécurité sociale is the French public system that pays back most medical costs, funded by contributions on wages. It is the closest thing to the NHS, but patients pay the doctor first and are reimbursed afterwards. (1)
3. c)14 July is the French national day, in memory of the storming of the Bastille in 1789. There is no British equivalent: the closest thing would be a mixture of a bank holiday, a military parade and Bonfire Night fireworks. (1)
4. d)A classe préparatoire is a two-year intensive course taken after the baccalauréat to prepare competitive entrance exams for the grandes écoles. There is no real equivalent in Britain, where students go straight to university. (1)

Attention — Annoncer une équivalence comme approximative (roughly, the closest thing to) vaut mieux que de laisser croire à une identité qui n'existe pas.

1. a)Courriel de 120 à 150 mots, registre amical : Hi Megan, / Dear Megan, … See you in June! / Take care, + prénom. Hors fourchette ou registre formel inadapté : retirer 0,5 pt. (1)
2. b)Information restituée : l'interdiction porte sur l'ensemble de l'établissement, elle prend effet à une date précise, elle concerne tous les élèves (et non les seuls internes). Un relevé de détails sans phrase de synthèse ne vaut pas la totalité des points. (1)
3. c)Un référent expliqué en trois mouvements : catégorie, fonction, équivalent nuancé — par exemple : The vie scolaire is the office that deals with attendance and discipline; it is roughly the equivalent of your pastoral team. (1)
4. d)Proposition rédigée : "Hi Megan, I read an article yesterday that deals with a new rule in my school, and it concerns you too. From 1 June, phones will be banned everywhere on the site, not only in the classrooms. The article points out that students will have to leave them in a locker at the gate, and it stresses that the rule applies to visitors as well. In a nutshell: leave yours in your bag! If you need to call home, you can ask at the vie scolaire — that is the office which deals with attendance and discipline, roughly the equivalent of your pastoral team. The CDI, our school library, stays open at lunchtime, so we will have somewhere quiet to talk. See you in June! Léa" (142 mots) (1)

À retenir — Un courriel de médiation transmet l'information utile au destinataire, pas l'intégralité du document lu.